The Indigo Ghosts

Ezekiel Colt has sent a note requesting the urgent presence of physician Gabriel Taverner aboard the Falco in Plymouth.  Gabriel has no idea what the summons is about.  He is shocked by the changes in the captain.

The captain describes a tale of woe, that started with a very bad storm.  As the ship sailed towards England the crew were on edge.  Then one day down in the hold Colt saw what was bothering them - a ghost, and it was blue in colour!

Colt takes Gabriel on a tour into the depths of the ship.  They encounter an indescribable stench.  Then they see it - ghost, which changes shape in Gabriel’s vision, yet is unseen by Colt, who only hears a wailing sound.  Afterwards, they discover a body of a woman.  What was she doing there?

The following day, Gabriel brings the coroner, Theophilus Davey, to the ship.  Theo orders the removal of the body to his office where Gabriel is to examine it.  Gabriel determines that the woman was between eighty and ninety when she died.  At one time she would have been a beautiful woman.  He is also sure that she had been dead for quite some time.

Gabriel is sure that whoever took her aboard the ship would be wanting to reclaim her.  His sister has some ideas about that, but before anything can be done about that, the body disappears from Davey’s custody.  Later that same morning a body is found.  Gabriel quickly determines that the young man has been drained of his blood.  Why would someone do that?  A young lad along to help remove the body notices that it is blue.

Why are Gabriel and Jonathan Carew, the local priest who did an exorcism on the ship, having strange, threatening dreams?  Why do they both feel like they are being watched?  What is the link to ships’ captains who sailed in the Caribbean?

Author Alys Clare has the answers to these questions and many more that the reader will have in this historical novel of malevolent men and gracious spirits.  An interesting read and a different tack for this author.  All-in-all, a good read.